


Acolyte

by draculard



Category: Star Wars Legends: Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn
Genre: Character Study, Child!Mara Jade, Ficlet, International Fanworks Day 2021, Jealousy, Loneliness, Loyalty, M/M, Rarepair, outsider pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29169594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculard/pseuds/draculard
Summary: Mara Jade is eight years old when she learns to hide her presence in the Force.
Relationships: Mara Jade & Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious, Sheev Palpatine | Darth Sidious/Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nurodo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	Acolyte

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Аколиты](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298894) by [NadiaYar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NadiaYar/pseuds/NadiaYar)



> This is inspired by a piece of fanart by Kobadit and a short essay written by NadiaYar, both of which can be found [here.](https://draculard.dreamwidth.org/190301.html)
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr, I'm draculard there too.

The Emperor had taught her how to hide her presence in the Force, and more importantly, had encouraged her to practice as much as possible — so, Mara reasoned to herself, he couldn’t possibly punish her for eavesdropping. And in any case, she didn’t intend to get caught. 

She leaned against the door to his private chamber first, invisible to the guards on either side of her (who always ignored her anyway because of her age), and struggled to sense the Emperor’s presence. It was  _ there _ , but slippery and difficult to grasp hold of, even more difficult to interpret; while other people let her read them like an open book, the Emperor was sometimes almost opaque. He was like a datacard submerged in water and corrupted by time; the data was still there, theoretically, but impossible to read without a great deal of dedication and hard work. 

She could hear a murmur of conversation, inaudible to the average ear, but couldn’t discern any particular words. The tone was familiar to her: casual, intimate, affectionate, like a father speaking to his favored child. And at the same time unfamiliar: straightforward and unmeasured, like two equals speaking to one another without a threat of punishment or correction should the child step out of line. Or perhaps that threat was still there, just so muted compared to what Mara was used to that she didn’t recognize it. 

She lingered a moment longer at the door, agonized. She’d learned all she was going to learn from eavesdropping; if she wanted more information, she had to do something to earn it. But trepidation made her gut twist and her palms sweat. If she got caught…

If she got caught, she would just have to deal with the consequences, she told herself with a firmness she didn’t feel. Every mistake was a new opportunity to grow, and pain would only strengthen her relationship to the Force.

Still, she could feel a nervous sweat beading her forehead. She squared her shoulders, centered herself, and slipped through the door. 

There was a warbling feeling of disconnect — Mara got the strange feeling that her feet had remained rooted to the ground while her soul walked on, through the wood and into the dark chamber beyond it. Her vision blurred, the images she saw momentarily disjointed, like she was watching a holo someone had shot while running with the recording rod shaking up and down in their hand. 

The Emperor’s presence did not flicker at her intrusion, but Mara knew better than to assume he hadn’t noticed; her gut twisted again, a cool trickle of anxiety inching down her back. She turned her attention away from the Emperor at once, checked to see if his companion had noticed her.

Her mind stopped.

There was a man kneeling at Palpatine’s throne. Not three meters back, the way other people did — the way Mara herself did whenever she entered this room. He knelt directly at Palpatine’s feet, a position so intimate it made Mara’s heart thud faster with mixed envy and instinctive disgust; she could see his thigh pressing against the Emperor’s knee. His back was straight, his head held high, one hand twisted lightly in the fabric around Palpatine’s waist, the other on Palpatine’s arm. 

He wore the white uniform of a Grand Admiral. Mara had seen it before, but never on this man. In the darkness of the Emperor’s chamber, his red eyes seemed almost to glow, fixed on Palpatine’s face. His skin was a cool shade of blue. He did not seem to mind the gnarled hand that caressed his cheek, did not flinch away as the Emperor spoke to him. 

There was no fear on his face. There was admiration, respect; in his posture, the way he leaned into Palpatine almost desperately even as he maintained his military bearing, there was loneliness. He was comfortable here, in this strange embrace; it seemed as natural and as necessary to him as breathing. In his aura, Mara detected no hint of Force-sensitivity — only a peculiar mind arranged in a manner utterly foreign to her and a swell of loyalty so deep and true that it overwhelmed her.

She could hear their words now: whispered but professional, speaking of nothing but tactics, of an unknown enemy, of resource allotment and new allies along the Outer Rim. But the look on Palpatine’s face was one of affection unlike anything Mara had ever seen; it sent a spike of pain through her chest, made her throat tighten.

As Palpatine rested his palm on the back of the admiral’s neck — as the alien bowed his head, as Palpatine leaned forward and brushed his lips against the alien’s hair — Mara turned away, unable to watch any longer.

She felt the Emperor’s Force presence brush against her as she left, darkly pleased that she had seen.

Satisfied that now she knew her place in the vast order of his Empire.


End file.
